of course, pope john paul ii had been pope since 1979. and so, of course, his impact felt not only in the religious world but also the political world. pope benedict, though, never really, of course, given the chance to emerge from the shadows. and it seems that for a good bit of his time, he was dogged by allegations that came through the child abuse scandal throughout certainly before his reign. he was constantly being dogged by questions regarding that. but mark halperin, an iconic figure replaced by pope benedict who has had a very short tenure and now is stepping down in a way that a lot of popes don't step down before they die. >> short tenure, and it's going to be scrutinized for some of the issues you raised. to me now thinking forward, it's going to be a very big story for catholics and others around the world including the question of will it be another european? there's going to be pressure to look to another region of the country as there was last time. i think it may happen this time. >> it's interesting because we're getting